The Secretive Beach Retreat Where China Leaders Plot World Domination

To be fair, if one is going to plot world domination one might as well do it at the beach. Get some rays. Consider currency moves. Get some sand between one’s toes. Drink a mai tai. Ponder whether the Spratly Islands are really worth starting a war over. Then maybe some miniature golf.

(From The Daily Beast)

What’s known about Beidaihe can only be expressed in the most general terms, that political leaders meet with experts in economic, scientific, and social science fields to form the grand strategies that steer the nation’s growth and development. Those meetings are the rare occasions when honest data on China’s economy are laid out on the table, putting to rest the legend of China’s recurring 7 percent GDP growth.

Normally held in mid-August, if the Beidaihe summit is convened at any other time, it provokes rife speculation by China-watchers. In 2002, when the meetings took place in late July, the rumor was that Jiang Zemin, China’s political leader at the time, resisted retirement and the issue of succession had become, well, an issue.

This year, the Beidaihe summit started on Aug. 3, a week earlier than is the norm.